Lives Transformed

Youth program spawns stories of success in a challenging world

BY NIKKI SIEGEL

Yezenia Porras (right) and her mentor, Natasha Wells, chat about college goals.
STEVE SMEDE PHOTO

The transformation that happened

in my life was complete and total
a 180. Anybody could have seen it;
anyone that was around me or someone close to me did see it.
These words belong to 19-year-old Alex Baker, and he is referring to the
powerful change that has occurred in his life these past couple of years.

62 IDAHO FALLS MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

Last year, Baker graduated from

Transform, a program designed to help
high school students overcome a significant
challenge in their lives and move forward to
higher education.
We think Transform is one of the great,
new educational programs thats available
in our area. There are some things very
special about it that make it unique and
potent, said David Pennock, director of
the Museum of Idaho and chairman of the
Community and Educational Foundation
board. It finds a specific group of kids at
a specific time in their life and gives them
exactly the help that they need to find success in their life.
Transforms executive director, Eve
Navarro, said the aim is to not only get

One aspect of the Transform program is learning interview skills that could lead to future job offers.
MOLLY SEMRAD PHOTO

the students off to college, but to help

them succeed in college and in their lives.
The program teaches life and leadership
skills, college preparation and some career
exploration.
Baker, now a freshman at Idaho State
University, said he learned a lot from the
program and it gave him the motivation
to do things he knew he should have been
doing anyway. While he said he did learn
a good amount about practical applications, he also learned a lot more about the
value of character and how that affects
quality of life.
I mostly learned about myself and
I think thats what most people learn
about, Baker said. They learn about
what they are capable of, who they are
and more of their potential.
Transform focuses on helping youth
improve in four areas of their lives: physical, mental, spiritual and social. Regarding
the spiritual aspect, Navarro said while
Transform is non-denominational, they
try to encourage students to figure out
who they really are and find some way to
ground themselves.
Navarro said Transform focuses on
numerous service projects because when
youth learn to think outside themselves
and focus on others, they become stronger
members of the community. Participants
learn about service through these activities as well as build friendships with one
another.

Were really working as a team and

were always involved, said second-year
Transform participant Yezenia Porras.
Were always up to do anything for our
community.
Porras said being surrounded by such
hard-working people motivates her to try
harder in her own life.
While Transform focuses the majority
of its service projects at home in the Idaho
Falls area, such as painting a mural in the
Childrens Adventure Center, they have
also incorporated out-of-the-country service as well. In March of 2014, five of the
Transform youth had the opportunity to
go to Ecuador for eight days to serve in an
orphanage. While there, the youth spent
a lot of time working with orphans with
disabilities and doing what they could to
make a difference.
The goal of the program is to engage
youth in soul-stretching service, said Lyle
Crandall, the founder of Transform. In
some cases, that probably happened in
Ecuador more than in any other place.
Ammon Mayor Dana Kirkham, who
is also on the board for Transform, said
Ecuador was a motivator, something they
had to work hard to achieve and made
them grateful for what they already had.
Baker said this was where his transformation in Transform primarily occurred.
Once we went to Ecuador and we got
to serve with little kids that had so much
heart, once I just got that experience

there and was able to reflect on my life I

just learned so much and then applied it
into my life; thats when the real change
happened, Baker said, adding that his
Transform experience up to that point
had all built up to that trip. He said that
within a week of returning, his life was
completely different for the better.
Baker said he now has a more confident
and proactive way of approaching life
and sees himself someday helping the rising generation in a way similar to how
Transform has helped him.
Kevin Grimes, Transform board member
and Bakers former mentor, said he has
seen more focus and direction from Baker.
Grimes was originally paired with
Baker at the beginning of the program at
the Mentor Interview Evening, an event
designed to have Transform youth participants and potential mentors interview one
another to find their best match while also
giving the youth a chance to practice their
interviewing skills.
They have a mentor [because] they
need to be accountable to them, Navarro
said. Its one thing to say you are going
to do something but its another thing
to actually follow through and do it and
thats what we want to teach these kids:
how to follow through and do the hard
things.
Baker said he still talks to Grimes about
life and where he is going, as Grimes helps
him keep the big picture in mind. Grimes
IDAHOFALLSMAGAZINE.COM 63

said the program is not just about getting the youth in and out of
college, but also about the art of living.
[The relationship] motivated me and put just enough pressure
on me to change my old habits, and step into some newer, more
effective habits, Baker said.
Pennock said Transform picks youth specifically because they
have all the talent, ability and ambition to succeed, but they have
some sort of challenge holding them back. The program uses a
network of educators to identify those youth and nominate them
to be in Transform; from there they are chosen to be interviewed
and apply to get into the program.
We all talk about wanting to do something for education
and we all talk about wanting to help that demographic of the
population that maybe struggles to pursue advanced degrees and
Transform makes that possible, Kirkham said.
Porras, who is still an active participant of the program, said
she always wanted to go to college, but before Transform it did
not seem like a big deal to her if she was not able to make it.
Before Transform I knew I wanted to go to college but I
knew if it didnt happen it was going to be OK either way, but
now since Transform started I really want to go to college because
I know it will be better for me and a better future for me, she
said.
College will be the first step in realizing a dream Porras said
she has had since watching My Sisters Keeper: becoming a nurse
at Saint Judes Hospital where she can work with the kids who
have cancer there.
Porras said her mentor, Natasha Wells, has been a very motivating person for her in this whole process, helping keep her on
track and stay on top of things.
Yezenia [is] so excited about the nursing program, Wells said.
It made me more excited because I could see that heres somebody who is going to make a difference in the lives of others.
Porras said she has grown a lot throughout her time in the program. She said she has met many different people and has been
able to see things from their point of view, which has been an
eye-opening experience.
Transform focuses a lot on teaching the youth to be able to see
different paradigms, something that has been a big change for
several of the participants.
Its made me change my perspective about a lot of things with
the lessons we do [and helps me] see from other peoples point of
view, said Terrin Wauhob, another Transform participant. I view
the world a little differently; theres more brightness to it.
He also said he has enjoyed the speakers that come in every so
often to talk to the students, referring to it as a little bit of inspiration every other week.
The speakers Transform hosts include a variety of community
people who have overcome their own challenges and found success. Navarro said this helps the youth realize they are not alone,
that other people have done it before.
Wauhob, who is also a student at Emerson, said that before
he joined Transform and started classes at the alternative high
school, he would fail almost every other class. Since these changes in his life, however, he has not failed a single one.
I definitely have higher ambition, he said.
Michael Harvey, a teacher at Emerson and Wauhobs Transform
mentor, said he has seen much more focus and greater self-confidence from Wauhob.

Terrin Wauhob, a current Transform participant, plans

to graduate from Emerson High School this spring.
STEVE SMEDE PHOTO

Transform youth often participate in various

team-building activities and games.
MOLLY SEMRAD PHOTO

Alex Baker, a Transform graduate, is now a freshman studying psychology at Idaho State University.
STEVE SMEDE PHOTO

64 IDAHO FALLS MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

He is a bright young man; hes got a

lot of capabilities, but to be honest, sometimes the world can beat those kids down,
Harvey said. He said he believes the program would be beneficial to every kid, but
especially to those who lack support.
Navarro said the goal is to make a lasting program, but they will consider it successful no matter when the program ends
because of those lives that have already
been touched. Pennock said it is making
a meaningful difference in peoples lives
that makes the program worthwhile.
The potential of the program to have
an impact is very, very big, Pennock said.
Take one person in our community who
was barely going to get by in their lives
and you give them the understanding and
the ability and the resources to become a
professional of some kind. The impact of
changing that one life can ripple through

the generations in a really significant way.

Navarro said the more the community
rallies behind the youth, the stronger and
more empowered they will feel with the
realization that they can be successful.
The kids have said several times I
never even realized that people in the
community cared about me. They hadnt
even thought about it, she said.
Pennock said he hopes the community
will pause for a moment to consider the
programs potential impact both on the
individual and the community. He said
they need more donors, mentors and the
community as a whole to get involved.
I hope [individuals and companies] can
support Transform so it can become the
sustainable program that it needs to be
that it can have impact on peoples lives
for years and years to come, he said. IF

For more information on how you

can get involved, please contact
Transforms executive director,
Eve Navarro, at 206-3617;
eve@transformyouth.org
MOLLY SEMRAD PHOTO

Where it all Started

Community involvement
There are many ways to become
involved with making a difference in
the lives of the youth in our community, and Transform is one of them.
I think its a great program, and I
think that any adult in the community who wants to give back service
to their community, who wants to
help make a difference should get
involved, said Transform mentor
Michael Harvey.
Another mentor, Tony Lima, said he
believes Transform is doing a good
job helping students take the next
step one at a time.
I find it so rewarding as a professional to be able to give back and
help somebody during that pivotal
time between those junior and senior
years, Lima said. Its really awesome
to help somebody at that particular
time in their life.
Ammon Mayor, Dana Kirkham, a
Transform board member, said she
believes Transform is a great program.
If you have dollars to contribute to
education, this is a good opportunity
to invest in our community, she said.
Many donors also provide meet-

ing places for the group. Such places

have included the Idaho Innovation
Center, Taylors Crossing on the River,
the Museum of Idaho and the Maeck
Educational Building.
Why should we care?
People should care in that theres
a huge segment of our population
that has the talent and ability and
desire to be contributing members
of our society, to bring intellectual
energy to our communities, to bring
economic energy to our communities, to bring social energy to our
communities these youth are full
of talent and ability, but we lose
them, said David Pennock, chairman
of the Community and Educational
Foundation board and director of the
Museum of Idaho. All of these ideas
and talent and possibility are completely lost because theyre just never
put into a position where they can
envision that future for themselves or
they never have the resources to fulfill that potential, and so theyre in our
community but they dont contribute
like their talents would allow them to
contribute.

Lyle Crandall was given the

charge by the Community and
Educational Foundation, a 501(c)
(3) organization dedicated to education improvement and community support, to develop an effective
program that would best utilize
their resources.
Crandall said that while thinking
of what kind of program he could
begin, his thoughts turned to Earl
Catmull, his father-in-law, who had
grown up in abject poverty during
the Great Depression. During the
course of his elementary school
education, one teacher challenged
Catmull to go on and receive a
higher education; this challenge
became a turning point in his life.
Catmull was enlisted into the US
Army during World War II right
after high school. Upon returning,
he was able to use the G.I. Bill to
pay for college. This opportunity
allowed him to become a teacher
and later a principal.
Crandall formed Transform with
this underlying idea that once
someone is inspired and finds a
desire to be successful in life, they
then go on to further their education, and they transform not
only themselves, but their families,
communities and countless others.
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